Russia-Ukraine war: Kherson mayor warns of ‘critical’ water shortages after Russian forces destroyed key infrastructure – live | Ukraine

Summary…

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Kyiv’s forces have established control in more than 60 settlements in the Kherson region and “stabilisation measures” are being carried out in Kherson city after it was retaken by Ukrainian forces.

• Ukrainians in Kherson region have spoken of their relief after the Russian retreat with pictures showing people crying and hugging each another, but also celebrating.

• But the humanitarian situation in Kherson is ‘severe’ amid water and medicine shortages, the region’s mayor says. Russian forces destroyed key infrastructure in the southern city before retreating, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.

• Russia says military training will return to its schools from next year. The programme is supported by Russia’s Ministry of Defence, which states that no less than 140 hours per academic year should be devoted to this training.

• The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said Russia will be “worried” and “disappointed” by the loss of Kherson, but he said it is important not to “underestimate” Moscow, stressing “if they need more cannon fodder, that is what they’ll be doing”.

• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has praised Ukraine’s defenders on Remembrance Sunday, saying we “pay tribute to the brave soldiers of Ukraine as they continue their fight for freedom”.

Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has lauded Ukraine’s defenders on Remembrance Sunday. He said in a statement:

This year more than ever, we are reminded of the huge debt of gratitude we owe those who lay down their lives to protect their country.

As we fall silent together on Remembrance Sunday, we will honour the memories of the men and women we have lost, and pay tribute to the brave soldiers of Ukraine as they continue their fight for freedom.

The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said Russia will be “worried” and “disappointed” by the loss of Kherson, PA reported.

However, he said it is important not to “underestimate” Moscow, stressing “if they need more cannon fodder, that is what they’ll be doing”.

Speaking to broadcasters in Westminster, Wallace said he would urge “caution” when considering the jubilant scenes on the streets of Kherson.

“Quite right, Ukraine has taken back the only objective of the many that Russia managed to capture back in sort of March. Kherson was one of the many objectives, Russia failed, now Ukraine has got that back,” he said. “It basically begs the question to the Russian population, effectively: What was it all for? But also it shows remarkable capability by Ukraine.”

He said Russia will be “worried” and “disappointed” by the loss of territory, but said: “You never underestimate Russia. History will remind you that Russia can be brutal to their own. And if they need more cannon fodder, that is what they’ll be doing.”

He added that it is up to Ukraine to decide “when and how” it might want to negotiate with Russia. Asked if now is the right time, he said: “First of all, I don’t think we should be grateful when the thief gives back stolen goods – and that’s effectively what Russia has done.

“Now it’s going to sort of go around the world trying to say everyone should be grateful for that. No, they shouldn’t, Russia shouldn’t have done it in the first place in February.

“I think it’s up to the Ukrainians to decide when and how they want to negotiate. Ultimately, Ukraine will want to do that from a position of strength and momentum is with Ukraine. I can’t see why Ukraine would stop that.”

The US has declared the Russian retreat in Kherson “an extraordinary victory” for Ukraine.

US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, on board Air Force One en route to the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, told reporters:

It does look as though the Ukrainians have just won an extraordinary victory where the one regional capital that Russia had seized in this war is now back under a Ukrainian flag. And that is quite a remarkable thing.

And it has broader strategic implications as well, because being able to push the Russians across the river means that the longer-term threat to places like Odessa and the Black Sea coastline are reduced from where they were before.

And so this is a big moment. And it’s certainly not the end of the line, but it’s a big moment. And it’s due to the incredible tenacity and skill of the Ukrainians, backed by the relentless and united support of the United States and our allies.

Utility companies in Kherson are working to restore critical infrastructure mined by fleeing Russian forces, with most homes in the southern Ukrainian city still without electricity and water, regional officials said on Sunday.

The governor of the region, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said the authorities had decided to maintain a curfew from 5pm to 8am and ban people from leaving or entering the city, as a security measure, Reuters reported.

“The enemy mined all critical infrastructure objects. We are trying to meet within a few days and (then) open the city,” Yanushevych told Ukrainian TV, adding that he hoped mobile phone operators could start working on Sunday.

Yuriy Sobolevskiy, first deputy chairman of Kherson regional council, added to Ukrainian TV: “Most houses have no electricity, no water and problems with gas supplies.”

The head of Ukrainian state railways said train service to Kherson was expected to resume this week.

In the village of Pravdyne, near Kherson, Svitlana Striletska, a deputy councillor, burst into tears after the Russian retreat.

The 50-year-old school principal and her husband had had to flee the village during the Russian occupation because she had been ferrying in humanitarian aid.

“I will never forget it, a man from the village ran up to us and told me: ‘You have to run away, because they are looking for you.’ I knew I had to choose between being killed or running away,” she told AFP.

“We had a small factory to make butter, to make sunflower oil. The Russians destroyed everything because we were helping people.”

Striletska said that 23 people were killed in the village since the occupation.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence believes that 650 Russian soldiers were killed in the country in the last day.

The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said six people died on Saturday as a result of Russian shelling.

Writing on Telegram on Sunday, he said four people were killed and one wounded in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, two were killed in the Kherson region, and two wounded in the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia has called for the G20 to stop talking about “imaginary threats” and focus on the world’s most pressing socio-economic problems, Reuters reported.

The G20 is set to meet on the Indonesian island of Bali this week, with Western leaders including US President Joe Biden expected to use the high-profile forum to slam Russia publicly over the war in Ukraine.

In a statement issued ahead of the summit, Russia’s foreign ministry said it was “fundamentally important that the G20 concentrate its efforts on real, rather than imaginary, threats”.

It added: “We are convinced that the G20 is called upon to deal with socio-economic problems. Expanding its agenda into areas of peace and security, which many countries are talking about, is not viable. This would be a direct incursion on the mandate of the United Nations Security Council and will undermine the atmosphere of trust and cooperation in the G20.”

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will head Russia’s delegation to the summit – the first since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February – after the Kremlin said president Vladimir Putin was too busy to attend.